A Change Between Us
by ShizzySavage16
Summary: Change would prove to be too late for Tracer, as it altered what could’ve been with Scout... (A quick one-shot story! Warning: Mild Violence and Mild Language)


**I was bored, idea popped up in my head, and I followed through with it!**

 **l l l l l l l l l l = A Line Break (Basically a _minor_ time skip)**

 **Did all of this on mobile since my desktop is down, and mobile doesn't include the option to put a proper line break down, so I had to make do with a bootleg line break.**

 **Enjoy the story!**

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

"Let's get this straight, Tracer," The irritated Scout pointed a finger at the jolly Overwatch agent, " _Back off,_ cause I'm pretty sure I can do this crap properly without you watchin' over me." He said, opening the back doors of the white van.

"Mhm, _sure you can."_ Tracer replied sarcastically, her shit faced grin growing wider towards him.

Scout glared at her, with not-so-nice thoughts running in his head that were aimed towards Tracer, _"She's so lucky she ain't a boy."_

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

It was dead at night, in the middle of nowhere. The only things that could be seen were stray cactus, miles of boring ground with cracks in them, and of course — the distant hills that complimented the starry night sky. They were on a long, empty highway that barely had a proper lane for driving a van, _much less any other vehicle._

So how in the world did the two end up here?

Out of all the roads that would've been much more suitable for driving back to base — why and how did they end up here?

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

Both Scout and Tracer have been tasked with the incognito job of stealing crucial information from the corrupt government system of Great Britain.

Normally, Winston would've had The Spy retrieving the info instead of sending the two _very_ jumpy runners to get the job done.

But The Frenchman was currently unavailable due to already being occupied by a much more incognito operation, which was more important than the one at task.

And Winston didn't want to risk sending any of the _other_ Mercenaries that Scout had arrived with, for they all had _questionable_ methods of completing tasks, and that included the young Mercenary — Scout, as well... but his methods were less severe, and _if_ it was ever severe, _at least it was quick and quiet, rather than messy and loud,_ compared to his other comrades ways of elimination.

Spy was obviously the best one at dispatching enemies quietly, but Winston would have to make do with Scout, as he was the second ' _silent'_ killer on the team of 9, and he was quick! His speed would come into play with the mission for later...

As for Tracer, Winston really couldn't find another member to replace her for this type of mission — which was quiet, in and out theft of government property, _which was supposed to be done as discreetly and low key as possible._

Would he send Mercy?

No, she wasn't quick enough.

Would he send Torbjörn?

No, he wasn't quick enough.

Would he send Pharah?

No, she was too loud.

Would he send Reinhardt?

... No, **_god_** no.

Lucio would make a good replacement. He was quick, but not really quiet. His music bumped 24/7, but that would be bearable for this task, because his speed would make up for it.

He would make a great replacement!

... If only he was _here_ at the moment.

The music-loving agent was elsewhere, which made him unavailable for this task.

And so the gorilla was left with Tracer — One of the quickest agents that Overwatch had to offer, _and_ a quiet one as well, _depending_ if she really wanted to be stealthy, then she could do it with no problem!

And this was where Scout and Tracer came into play — The replacements to a job that has gone _decently_ well... _so far._

Well, it actually hasn't gone as well as it _could've_ been...

The problems started from the very beginning... _Before the actual start of the operation._

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

Both Scout and Tracer were less than excited when they heard that they would be teamed up for their next operation.

Tracer made it clear to Winston, that she did not like Scout at all, for numerous reasons —Which ranged from his lack of maturity, all the way to his lack of common sense, and smarts. She also held a grudge with him because she claimed that she was faster than the already _blazing quick_ Mercenary. She thought in her mind, that she was better than him, and she needed to let him hear it!

But Winston found her situation a bit odd. It just didn't add up. Though she claimed she didn't like Scout at all, he would sometimes see her talking and having casual conversations with Scout as if they were good friends, which was surprising in its own right.

But what made it even more questionable, was that she was always the one who would initiate the conversation between herself and him... _and it happened a plenty of times already,_ but despite that, she still _claimed_ she didn't like him.

Winston knew very well that Tracer had a case of mood swings, but it didn't happen so often, especially to the people she _'claimed'_ that she disliked.

So was it all just a big fluke for Tracer? A big cover up for the _real feelings_ _she had towards the young Mercenary?_

Winston wanted to say it was affection that was being covered up by hate... but he couldn't say that yet due to obvious reasons.

What proved her lack of preference for Scout even more, was that she personally _**begged**_ Winston to not put her in any sort of missions with him.

It just didn't add up!

On the other hand, Scout didn't like Tracer either. But it wasn't like he had a choice to do so.

It seemed like Tracer was really trying her hardest to make her seem unattractive to him in terms of personality. He didn't mind her at all in the beginning, in fact, he was sort of wishing that they could become friends, or possibly, _something more than that..._ it didn't work out to say the least.

What made her so annoying, was that she talked too much, _especially_ to him. And it wasn't the normal talking either — it was the _'I am better than you, and I will continue to yap on about it until you accept it.'_ kind of talk that came out of her mouth, _which infuriated Scout._

He didn't hate her, and he sure as hell didn't hate her whenever she _wasn't_ acting so rude towards him... which was _sometimes._ He just wanted to know why, that on some days she would be tolerable and friendly to him, and on most days, she would be bitchy and annoying to him.

 _He just wanted to know, he didn't know what he did to deserve such treatment from her._

Winston noticed the obvious tension between the two, but he figured that since they were both _adults_ , they could easily put their differences aside.

So that's what he did.

He assigned both of them on a mission that would be done in partners, because they were conveniently the first people that came to his mind when he thought about quiet and quick, and partly because he wanted them to put aside their differences for the sake of teamwork and increased chemistry between the Mercenaries and Overwatch.

But when push came to shove for the start of the mission... _things were just **not** clicking between the two._

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

Their personalities automatically went to war with one another as they got into the van, with Scout calling dibs on the drivers seat, to which Tracer beat him to, locking the drivers door just a _split second_ before he could get to it, laughing at him shortly after as he was forced to sit in the passengers seat.

The drive to the location was even worse as their matching personalities tried to prove dominance over the other.

Scout's egotistical and cocky personality irritated the short-tempered Tracer — who was _never_ afraid to express herself.

The tense drive was full of arguments and heated exchanges between the pair, which almost caused Tracer to swerve the van into the offllane while she cussed at The Scout — who had a shit-faced grin the entire ride there...

Unsurprisingly, _it got worse as the ride was over._

When they got out the van, which had been parked into a well hidden spot — Scout instantly established himself as the leader of the operation, to which Tracer rejected at a heartbeat.

Her pride wouldn't allow her to be taking directions and orders from a stupid boy like Scout — and Scout's pride wouldn't allow him to be taking orders from the irritating, get-on-your-nerves type girl - Tracer.

So needless to say, because of the runners pride, they refused to co-operate with each other— which lead to a more difficult job to complete.

Pointless self-planning and execution made the job even harder for the both of them; _because they didn't get anywhere significant with their stubbornness._

Like any other typical operation, there was _already_ a set plan from the start when Winston administered the operation as a good-to-go for the runners...

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

There was a back entrance of the building that so conveniently led to the room that the crucial information (which was conveniently stored in a briefcase) was in, which was guarded by motion sensors and alarms that would trigger as soon as unauthorized personnel set foot there — which would cause every staff member available in the building to be sent down to get rid of the intruder.

Winston cleverly thought of a bypass for the security system.

Tracer would have to use her blink ability to teleport through the alarms and motion sensors that have been stationed throughout the hallways that lead to the room with the info. There were safe sections of the hallways that had no alarms set to trigger which was in between every set of alarms. These areas made it safe for a person to walk without fear of setting off an alarm or a sensor.

At the end of the hallways, was a power panel that would turn off the security systems.

 _But it was temporary._

And this was where speed came into play. Scout would have to run a narrow hallway in _10_ seconds or less before the security systems would be turned back on.

Did Winston think it was possible for him to run a flat **_100 Meters_** in less than 10 seconds?

Absolutely!

He had never seen such a man run as fast as Scout without enhancements. It was like he was straight out of a _video game,_ but he was the real life version instead.

Once that was done, Tracer would immediately make her way back to the van, leaving Scout to deal with the briefcase full of corrupted government info, as well as a door with a semi-complex code to break.

The door was easy.

All Scout had to do was jam a device called a _'Codebreaker'_ onto the keypad, which would automatically bypass the PIN to unlock the door.

The briefcase was set up to automatically notify the head of security whenever it was taken from its original place, and if the head of security saw a man in civilian clothing laying a _finger_ on the briefcase full of corrupted evidence — He would do everything in his power to prevent him from going anywhere with it.

This was where Scout's speed was truly going to shine.

Scout would reset the security systems himself and run as quick as he possibly could from the hallways, _all the way back_ to the van, where Tracer _should_ be ready and set to drive off with Scout back to base. Security wouldn't have enough time to catch up with the quick Mercenary, which would lead to a quick and easy delivery for Winston back at base.

 ** _That was the plan. It was easy to_** ** _follow through with, and it could be executed even easier considering the people that were trust_** ** _ed with the job..._**

But of course, ego, pride and pure _stubbornness,_ got in the way of what would be - An easy job, if they just worked together like they were supposed to...

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

Scout abruptly started the job off by killing a guard that was stationed at the back door, a quick shot from his suppressed pistol finding its way into his brain, his blood now subtly adorning the wall, and the other guard as well.

His partner, Tracer, was shocked at how quick he was to kill... _**murder** ,_ a person.

"Scout! What the hell?!" Tracer yelled from a distance, blinking towards him.

By the time she got there, Scout had already beaten the other guard down with his baseball bat, blood seeping from his nose - which was completely broken with one swing of his.

Scout was about to kill the remaining guard, until Tracer stopped him from doing so.

 _"STOP!"_ Tracer pushed him away from the beaten down guard, _"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"_ She said through pursed lips.

Scout furrowed a brow in response, "What? I'm doing the damn job!"

 _"The job didn't say that you had to_ _kill them, you_ _heartless twat!"_ Tracer cried out, taking a step back from the twitching body of the dead guard, cringing as his body parts were still moving.

 _"Oh my god, I'm gonna be sick!"_ She snarled out.

Scout groaned, "Stop bein' a wuss! This is how I get the job done, and it friggin' works!"

 _"That's how **you** may do it! But Overwatch is a little more humane when it comes to jobs like this!"_ She replied, snarling at the cold Mercenary.

While the two were arguing, the beaten down guard had just enough time to radio in for support at his current location. With the brief sound of static in the air, his walkie-talkie came to life.

"Report?" A voice from the walkie-talkie spoke.

Scout noticed, "Shit!"

 _"S-sir..."_ The guard coughed out, _"O-Overwatch is-"_

The Scout grabbed the device from his hands and turned it off immediately,

And for safety measures, he put a bullet through the guard's skull as well, not hesitating at all to kill.

 _"Oh god..."_ Tracer gulped at seeing another man die before her eyes.

He holstered his pistol and looked up at Tracer, _"You dumbass. Should've just let me waste him instead of being soft, now we got more friggin' people on the way."_ He sarcastically applauded her, " _Good job, Tracer."_

"Oi! This wouldn't have happened if you just, _oh I don't know, KNOCKED THEM OUT OR SOMETHING!"_ Tracer said, shaking at the sight of the two dead bodies near her.

 _"Oh shut up."_ Scout scoffed.

Troops were going to be on their way. Scout knew about Overwatch's reputation with the government, and because of the simple fact that the guard mentioned Overwatch on the walkie-talkie with his final breath, he was quick to act upon it.

A new sense of urgency fell upon him.

 _"Fuck."_ He snarled out, eyes widening as he realized how deeply _screwed_ they were if they continued to stay here. "Go back to the van and start it up." He ordered Tracer.

 _"And who are you to start bossing me around?!"_ Tracer replied.

"FUCK." He snarled out once more. "TRACER, I DON'T THINK YOU REALIZE HOW FUCKED UP THE PLAN IS RIGHT NOW. SO JUST GO BACK TO THE FRICKIN' VAN AND START IT UP, THEN WAIT FOR ME!" Scout yelled, his temper _flaring_ at the brave agent.

"No! I'm coming with you, like _THE JOB_ _told_ me to do!" Tracer insisted, holding her ground against Scout — who was _furious._

He took an intimidating step towards Tracer and put his hands on both her shoulders, _"You better go to back to the damn van if you want to leave alive. I will fucking leave you with these chumps if you don't go back to the van — AND FUCKING **START** IT."_ Scout snarled through gritted teeth, his face close with hers, dangerous and urgent eyes glaring directly at her's — _Which was **daring**_ _her to refuse his order._

Tracer quietly whimpered because of how scared she was.

Undoubtedly, she was shaken up. She was trying her best not to allow her fear to be shown from his touches.

 _"Do you understand me?!"_ He said as he shook her.

She shoved Scout away, _"Fuck you. Bloody bastard."_

She blinked away from him and went straight to the van, readying the engines as he ordered her to.

 _"Stupid frickin' girl."_ Scout muttered.

He sighed and busted down the back door and slid down the discreet ladder, which lead to the hallways that were filled with alarm trippers and motion sensors. Since reinforcements were already on their way to his location, Scout had nothing to lose by setting off every alarm that was placed in the hallway, as they were already notified of his presence.

He ran the long, narrow hallway in an incredible 7 seconds, andrenaline coursing through his veins as he had the task set in mind.

This exact situation was comparable to the many intel grabs that Scout had done for The Administrator. The andrenaline rush, the speed, and the goal in mind - were all similar to what he professionally for the RED team.

Scout reached the door that held the briefcase and pulled out the Codebreaker from his pocket, jamming it onto the keypad of the door.

Every second that passed, Scout could hear how frantic his heart beat was. He was breathing heavily as he waited for the device to overload the keypad's function.

The door finally opened in an intense 10 seconds, and Scout was in the room at a _heartbeat_.

He looked around the room for the specific briefcase that contained all the dirty evidence against Britain's corrupt government, and when he finally found it, his hands were on it, and he was _off._

The alarms were loud as Scout ran back to the ladder. The alarms were loud enough to overwrite any other sound that tried entering Scout's eardrums.

He crossed the long hallway and headed up the ladder with the briefcase in one hand, panting at how hard he was working his body. He reached the door to hear alarms blaring, _and he was off in an instant._

Luckily, there weren't any troops outside, but that didn't stop Scout from running like hell!

He ran as quickly as he could to where the van had been parked.

He spotted the van and ran quicker.

He ran to the passengers door and opened it.

 _"Go! Drive, drive!"_ Scout cried out, not even closing his door properly, plopping the briefcase onto the seat as he hurried in.

Tracer put her foot on the pedal and drove off, trying her best to be as discreet as she could while driving the van. She looked at the rear view mirror nervously, catching sight of the troops that were soon to flood the area that Scout had once been in.

They were lucky that the troops hadn't noticed the van driving out from the compound.

Scout looked in his rear view mirror and took a refreshing breath.

"That could've gone so bad," He sighed refreshingly, "Thank god it didn't..." He muttered as he rested back into his seat.

And just like that, they escaped — with a briefcase full of incriminating evidence that would help for the public resurface of Overwatch.

The mission was over basically, all they had to do was drive back to base with no interruptions from traffic. There, they could finally be out of each other's company, and go on about their less-than-normal days.

But the plan wasn't executed _**properly**_ , and it would have further consequences and complications that would prevent total completion...

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

Britain's government was now in full alert, and security was beginning to tighten up exponentially as word spread out quick... _especially on the roads._

It has been an awkward, silent 10 minute ride with neither Scout or Tracer saying anything. She didn't want to talk with him at all because of what he had done to her earlier, and the same went for him.

They couldn't stand each other's company, their personalities just didn't mesh well together...

Tracer continued driving down the road that was fairly alive at this time of the day, but _something_ caught her eye as she continued to drive towards it.

She narrowed her eyes and saw that it was a roadblock of some sort, black coloured four-doors and jeeps with flashing sirens on the top — as well as a barricade that was made out of wood. There was an officer that was currently going through a person's car as thorough as he could've been, looking for each crack and crevice in the interior of the vehicle.

 _"Oh shite..."_ Tracer muttered.

Those were the first words that had gone into the air ever since she got onto the main road, indirectly breaking them silence between herself and Scout.

Scout gave her a side glance, "What?"

Tracer **_did not_** want to talk to him, so she acted off on instinct after seeing that a roadblock was just up ahead.

Instead of driving forward, she came to a complete halt and pulled up at a gas station that was conveniently nearby, thinking of alternate routes she could use to reach the base without going through a roadblock.

"What the hell?" Scout looked out the window, wondering why Tracer wasn't following the destined route.

"Yo," He looked at her, waiting for her to look back.

"YO!" He called out once more.

She finally looked back, _"What."_

"Where the hell are you going?" He asked sternly.

As much as she didn't want to talk to the cold murderer who had shooken her, she _had_ to, or else she wouldn't hear the end of it.

"There's a roadblock up ahead... and their checking every vehicle that passes by. We're gonna get caught if we try to go through." Tracer simply replied.

Scout huffed a breath, _"Oh wow. Great! Just great!"_

"We're gonna have to think of an alternate route to take back to base."

Scout gave her a disappointing look, _"Really? No shit..."_ He sighed stressfully, "We wouldn't need to be thinkin' of other roads to use if you just friggin' listened to me." He said.

Tracer cocked a brow at him, _"Oh really?_ I'm _sorry_ for being the person with better morals in that situation, love... Are you saying that it's _completely_ my fault that we got into this mess?"

"Y'know what? Yeah. Yeah! That's exactly what I'm saying, couldn't have said it better myself." Scout said, adjusting his seat, "You're the damn reason that frickin' chump called for reinforcements in the first place. If you'd have just let me waste 'em, we woulda been at base — and I would've been far away from you, which is how I prefer to spend my time while I'm there."

Oh my god, he was infuriating.

 _"Oi!_ _**Nowhere**_ in the job, did Winston mention to _kill_ anyone! _We're not fucking Mercenaries for crying out loud_ _, Scout! We're heros!"_ Tracer glared at him with strong eyes, " _Hero's. Don't. Kill!"_ She stressed.

He rolled his eyes at that, _"Yeah, and **nowhere**_ _in the job did that monkey mention that we **couldn't** kill a guy."_ Scout responded wittily, a stupid smirk on his face, "So how are you gonna respond to that? Go ahead and try, I dare ya."

Tracer groaned at how unfortunate she was at the moment. Arguing with Scout on the subject of basic morals. What made it worse was that he was actually _**trying**_ to justify his reason for senselessly murdering the men.

Tracer wished she could've shut him up completely, preferably by means of a successful beat down.

But Tracer couldn't do that, _she just didn't have the heart (or the strength) to do it, despite how annoying he was._

"You know what, Scout? I'm _done_ talking. You, are so bloody impossible to handle. Just stop talking to me - _ignore me for all I care. You are bonkers."_ Tracer said, staring at the front window with a sigh.

Scout gave her another shit-faced grin, "Yeah, cool. And you're soft as baby shit." He yawned and stretched out his arms, _"... Toughen up a little, and maybe you'd understand what I'm saying."_ He said as he yawned.

Tracer was about to respond until she controlled herself, managing to calm herself down just enough to ignore his insult.

Scout relaxed into his seat, putting his feet up on the dashboard, not a care in the world as he continued to grin with no real purpose.

Tracer found herself eyeing him in her peripherals as they sat in the van in silence.

His mannerisms seemed to get the attention of Tracer — The way he would pick at the loose material of his bandages, the way he would rap his fingers on the briefcase, the way he would _grin for no damn reason_ — was annoying her... ALL OF IT, WAS ANNOYING HER... _HE WAS ANNOYING HER._

 _But why was she staring so much?_

Tracer looked at the front windows again, her forearm propped on the wheel as she rested her head on her arm, basking in the silent, awkward atmosphere.

Tracer was about to close her eyes until Scout spoke, getting her attention almost instantly.

"I don't wanna be here anymore than you do. So can you make it easier on the both of us, and just find a way to get back to base, so we can be out of each other's way for the rest of the frickin' day?" Scout said, staring straight at her with bored eyes.

"... I thought I told you to stop talking to me." Tracer said as she lifted her head up out of her arms, meeting his gaze for a moment, then quickly looking somewhere else.

 _She didn't know why it was so hard for her to stare at him._

Scout's gaze still remained strong on her's, "And I thought you were done talking to me, but _clearly_ you aren't, cause you decided to talk back... _get it?"_ He said.

Tracer sighed and pulled out the GPS, navigating alternate routes to take back to base.

 _"So bloody annoying."_ Tracer muttered, entering her current location onto the GPS.

"And you're a hypocrite too, _heh, sweet."_ Scout said, picking at his wraps with another one of his stupid grins.

 _Seriously, why was she staring at h_ _im so much — Especially whenever he would smile?_

Tracer wouldn't allow him to piss her off - Like Scout said, she just wanted to get back to base and far away from this unfortunate situation with him.

3 Routes came up on her GPS as she inputted the origin and destination onto the device.

There was 1 route, which was directly straight, which headed towards the roadblock — So that was an automatic 'nope'.

There was another route that consisted of going onto a long highway, and the final route consisted of yet _another_ long highway.

 _"Isn't that just jolly..."_ Tracer said. She sighed as she readied the engines once again, deciding to go for route #2 on her GPS.

"Don't crash, alright?" Scout said as he relaxed more into his seat.

Why and when did he feel the need to open his mouth?

Tracer thought of throwing a nearby water bottle at him, but instead, she huffed annoyingly and opened her door, walking all the way over to the passengers door, opening it.

"Drive." She said sternly, gesturing at Scout to get out the passengers seat, "Since you think I'm going to crash us, I think it's better that you take the wheel." She said, hands on her hips.

Scout scoffed and grabbed the briefcase, "Hah! And here I thought you were brain-dead! But at least you're letting me drive, which I appreciate," He took his feet off the dashboard and got out of the passengers seat with the briefcase in hand, "Thank ya very much." He said as he stood up to his full height.

Tracer glared in response and took her seat, making sure to buckle her seatbelt before being driven.

Scout opened the back doors of the van and placed the briefcase in it. He closed the doors and made his way to the drivers seat, "Now we can ignore each other in peace." He said as he started to drive the alternate route.

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

It has been 15 minutes since Scout has started to drive, and not a word has been said ever since. Tracer has never been in an awkward situation like this, as she was usually always chatty with whoever she was with. What made the atmosphere even more awkward, was that there was no damn radio to listen to! Which forced Scout and Tracer to bask in the silent atmosphere.

Over these 15 minutes, Tracer again, found herself peeping at Scout with her peripheral vision _over several times!_

She was anxious of how he was holding the wheel, she was worried because of how casual and careless his stance was...

And _of course,_ his stupid, **_stupid_** smile!

 _Why did he have to be smiling at all times?! What gives?!_

Tracer wanted to ask him, _badly,_ why he had a smile on his face 24/7. But she didn't want to initiate a conversation with him.

But it wasn't like he was all _that bad,_ aside from him being a murderer for hire, he was a pretty funny guy! She was guilty of eavesdropping in on his conversations with the other Mercenaries, and _god was he funny!_ He was just a Grade-A ass all around, and that was the only thing bad about him...

He'd be a pretty cool friend to have if he wasn't such a douche...

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

It has been 2 hours since they have stolen the briefcase from the building, it was near midnight, and the highway they found themselves on was completely empty. No headlights could be seen — the only thing that was alive on the road was the van itself, and the runners inside of it.

Tracer managed to squeeze a 30 minute nap in, despite how uncomfortable she was in her current position.

When she woke up, she gave out a cute yawn, which made Scout smile... he snickered a bit.

Tracer didn't notice. She instead looked outside the window, to see that the night sky was now completely dark, with bright little dots scattered around the skies.

She stared at Scout, and for some damn reason, he decided to stare at the same time!

The awkward timing resulted in both of them catching each other's gaze for 3, _strong seconds._ Tracer was the first to break her stare, looking straight ahead with a slight increase in her heart beat.

 _"Not something you wake up to everyday... golly, that's nice."_

She thought to herself.

She must've been sleepy. Did she really compliment Scout's eyes in her thoughts?

She was waiting for him to break the stare first, but he didn't. So she was forced to break the stare first, avoiding more awkwardness...

"So... where are we?" Tracer finally spoke, hoping for a response.

Scout gave her a side glance. He ignored her and continued to drive, checking the GPS once in a while to make sure that he was following the correct route.

"Umm... did you hear me?" Tracer asked, giving him a side glance back.

No response.

Tracer nervously pursed her lips as she got no response from him.

She _could've_ pressed on to receive an answer from him, but she decided not to. Instead, she sighed and looked out the window, bored beyond her mind.

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

 _Another_ 5 minutes passed in silence.

Tracer couldn't take it anymore.

The silence, the awkwardness... she was not used to this atmosphere at all - as she was always chatty whenever she was around people.

"Scout, where in the _bloody_ _hell_ are we?" Tracer said, annoyance in her tone.

Scout finally responded.

He sighed, "I ain't too sure. I've been on this damn road for an hour, literally just driving straight. I'm following the route too..." He peeked at the GPS, "You sure you put in the right destination?" He asked, giving an annoyed glare at the road.

"Yeah.. I _did._ Just make sure you're correctly following the route."

"Obviously that's what I'm doing, just make sure that frickin' pathway is correct."

 _"Oh my-"_ Tracer rolled her eyes, _It is correct!"_ She yelled out, making Scout shut up.

Jesus, Scout was annoying.

Things just couldn't get worse for the pair.

Being forced to sit in a van _together_ , tension between them, and it would have to be endured for however long this road took to fully cross...

 _But as luck would have it, things did ge_ _t worse for the pair._

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

The van drove over _something,_ which caused them to slightly bump in their seats.

Tracer gasped at how sudden the bump was, "What was that?!" She asked.

"I.. I don't know..." He replied, slightly shook by the bump. He looked in the rear view to see what he might've ran over.

He saw nothing... but he _heard_ something. There was a slight hissing sound coming from underneath the van as he continued to drive, _"Shit..._ do you hear that?" He asked.

Tracer heard a hiss as well, "Is it a hissing sound?"

"Yeah..." Scout put his foot on the brakes, "Hold up, I'm gonna pull over." He said, putting the van to a halt as he turned off the engine.

Tracer eyed him as he got out the drivers seat, looking in her rear view to observe what Scout was doing.

She didn't see him come over to her side of the van, instead, she heard him groan out loudly.

"AH JEEZ!" Scout groaned out, "The wheel's busted!" He yelled, the hissing getting even louder.

"Bloody hell..." Tracer groaned as well. She got out the van and walked over to the other side of it. She saw Scout with his hand rubbing at his temple, a look of annoyance clear on his face. "You're joking, right?" She said.

"Nah, Tracer. I ain't..." He muttered to himself and cursed a few times before walking to the back of the van. "This wouldn't have happened if you just listened to me."

 _Ugh, this again._

 _"Oh fuck off! Everything that went wrong is now my fault?!"_ Tracer asked.

"The fact that you blew our friggin' cover, got those damn govvies on our tail, caused the frickin' police to place roadblocks on the main road we had to cross, and caused the frickin' van to fuck up-"

Tracer cut him off with a sharp voice, jabbing a finger at his chest, _"SHUT UP!_ DON'T YOU DARE SAY I WAS THE ONE THAT CAUSED THIS VAN TO STOP!" She jabbed her finger at his chest again, careless of how hard she was pointing, "YOU WERE THE ONE DRIVING IT, YOU TWAT!" She jabbed at his chest for the third time.

 _"Don't put the blame on me for that shite!"_ Tracer yelled, letting her temper flare as she jabbed one hard, final time at his chest.

She huffed and gave Scout a dead stare, daring him to say something stupid.

Scout would have massacred her if she wasn't a girl. But he was raised with good standards, which included him to **_never_** lay a hand on a woman, and he obeyed fully.

"Fine... _fine!"_ He threw his hands up irritatingly, " _It's **my** fault that the van's fucked up - that's what ya wanted to hear?"_ He said.

"Yes, exactly, love! Take blame for your own damn mistakes for once in a while, and _maybe_ you would be bearable!" Tracer replied. She was smiling because Scout's stubbornness didn't press further onto the argument, which she was livid about.

"Pfft," Scout rolled his eyes, "Whatever... move out the way, I'll fix the damn tire myself."

"Hah! Like you even know how to do that!" Tracer teased.

"Oh? Do _you_ know how to do it, Miss _'I'm the best at everything'?"_ Scout asked.

"Hmph, probably. And for your information, love. I have a more **developed** brain than you - and don't even try to complain on that one, you know it's true... and to answer your question, _I could probably do it better than you."_ Tracer said with a smirk, happy that she was winning this argument.

"That ain't even a proper answer, but whatever. I'll fix the friggin' wheel myself, cause _I actually **know** how to do it, unlike some frickin' people."_ Scout said.

"Highly doubt that, but go ahead, I'm not stopping you." Tracer grinned.

 _This was irritating for Scout._

And that is how the runners ended up in their unfortunate situation...

Stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a flat tire, and in each other's company until they could find a way to get the tire fixed. It was a bit chilly as well, which was always bad if you were stuck in a long, empty road... How would they get out of this situation?

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

"You better stop talking, seriously." Scout threatened.

"Or what?" She challenged.

"Or else I'm gonna just sit down on my ass and do nothin' bout this tire."

"Hah! Go ahead, love! I-"

"SWEET!" Scout cut her off, "If you don't mind, I'll be chillin' while you do the hard work, okay?"

Tracer would do _anything_ to gain an ounce of pride over Scout, _"That's okay. This just means I'm a much harder worker than you, and that I'm actually better than you in general when it comes to things like this."_ She said, smirking with her arms crossed.

Scout clapped sarcastically, _"Cool."_ He said with a smirk, heading into the drivers seat.

Tracer waited until Scout was inside the van, and once he was...

 _"How the hell do I fix this shite?"_ She muttered disappointingly, irritated as she stared at the flat tire.

The tire didn't look _that_ bad. There was a little hole on the surface, but she didn't know what exactly was in it. The air was hissing out from the same exact hole.

It didn't look that complicated to fix - but at the same time, _she didn't know how to fix it, no idea at all._

Tracer opened the back doors of the van, looking around for tools that looked proper for fixing a hole in a tire.

She saw an air pumper, a car jack, which was used for suspending vehicles up, a wrench, many nuts and bolts in one drawer, and a tool kit that probably contained tools that Tracer had no idea on how to use.

She was lost already.

"Ugh. What the hell do I do now?" Tracer muttered. She had no sort of knowledge on how to fix any part of a vehicle, because she didn't find the time to do so, as she was always transported via an airship or using her own legs as transport most of the time (with the help of her chronal-accelerator). She never used a car surprisingly, her blink eliminated the need for it, thus giving her no reason to fix a flat tire of a van.

Tracer didn't want to admit that she had no clue on how to fix the tire, but at the same time, _she kinda needed to admit - She needed to put her pride aside so they could proceed with the mission..._ and it was getting colder the longer she stood outside, she wouldn't mind sitting inside the interior while having Scout fix the tire.

After about a minute of silent, confused staring at the various tools, Tracer called for Scout.

She sighed, readying herself for the upcoming scolding she was bound to receive from the egotistical Scout.

 _"... Scout!"_ She called out, shivering as the wind breezed onto her.

Scout looked out the window with his elbow propped on the door, his head resting stupidly in his hands...

 _And that stupid smirk!!!_

"Sup?" He called back, a shit-faced grin on his face.

 _"I don't know how to do this."_ Tracer admitted.

She could hear him snickering. He opened his door and walked towards the back, giving her another one of his shit-eating grins as he raised a brow.

Tracer looked back with embarrassment, _"... What do you want me to say? I don't know how to fix the tire, I admit it, Scout."_ She said, failing to meet his eyes.

"Nah, it's okay."

... Wait, what?! He didn't say anything rude?

"I'm just smilin' cause you just accepted that you ain't really good at _everything_ like you said you was earlier,"

Tracer looked up at him, still embarrassed of herself, but the timing couldn't be more unfortunate as she found herself looking at one of the most breathtaking smiles she has ever seen.

 _"... So thank you."_ Scout finished, giving her the most genuine, heartfelt smile that she had ever seen from him.

 _Was it really unfortunate to be seeing such a perfect smile from the guy you're supposed to hate?_

 _Or was it fortunate and considered lucky?_

Tracer curled her lips in an awkward manner, _heat steadying on her cheeks,_ brows softening as she smiled back awkwardly, _"Umm... I'll... I'll just wait for you in the van, love..."_ She replied, looking someplace else as she twirled her spiky tips.

"Yeah," He chuckled, "You're shivering a ton, should probably get inside before you freeze to death or something."

Tracer already felt like she was frozen... but **_not_** from the weather - _something else..._

She made her way to the passengers seat, but before she did, she turned back around, concerned for Scout as he was only wearing a t-shirt in the chilly night weather.

"Hey, what about you?" Tracer asked, showing concern for his warmth.

"Wow, you're actually _concerned?"_ He chuckled, "Heh... Umm... I wish I could stay inside, but we gotta get this crap movin' if we wanna get someplace warmer."

"Oh, okay..."

Tracer opened the passengers door and took a seat inside the van, finally getting some time to collect herself as she had to figure out - _What in the fuck just happened between them._

 _When_ did Scout decide to act _tolerable_ towards her, _why_ was he acting like this, and _**WHAT** MADE HIS SMILE SO DAMN PERFECT?_

" _Holy shite, I must be red as a... a bloody tomato!"_ Tracer whispered, looking in the rear view to make sure that Scout couldn't hear her. She looked, and she could see him carrying _something_ out of the van, most likely one of the tools he'd use to fix the tire.

Great, more time to evaluate the surreal situation that just happened!

"Okay, Lena. Why am I blushing? Why am I actually starting to like that cold bloke? And when did he decide to stop acting like a total arse?" She looked in the rear view mirror, double checking to make sure she wasn't being spied on by Scout.

Great, even more time!

"I mean- _he's not bad,_ he's actually a pretty cute boy if I do say so myself..." She sat back in the seat, thinking of the Mercenary, _"He's tall, has some lean muscle in his long legs, has beautiful eyes..."_

She sighed, _"His body must look **killer** beneath that bloody shirt... now if only I could rip it off of him, and see what his body really looks like..."_ She let out a pleasured sigh, _"Wouldn't that be bloody brilliant... I wonder how his lips would feel against mine as I-"_

Tracer gasped, cutting herself off with pure shock.

 _Was she really managing to get aroused by just **thinking** about Scout? Was she really on the level where she was thinking about crashing her lips against Scout's?_

"Oh blimey, what's **_wrong_** with you, Lena?! Make your bloody mind up!" She whispered, hoping that Scout couldn't hear her rambling to herself.

She looked out the drivers window to see that he was crouched over, placing a trolley jack under the side of the van to suspend it into the air.

"Scout!" She called out the window.

"What?" He replied, cranking the jack up.

"Do I need to be out of the van for this?"

"Nah, not really. Just stay inside, I'll be quick."

Tracer wished she was sitting in the drivers seat instead of the passengers seat, just so she could see him work. Her view of the passengers window had nothing that was worth her attention - but the drivers window had something... - _someone_ to look at as she waited.

"This is so cheeky! Why in the bloody hell am I thinking like this?" She questioned herself.

Why was she suddenly getting the urge to grow _affection_ towards him?

What the hell was happening?

Some more minutes passed as Tracer was in her thoughts — He was almost done. He had already removed the tire from the hub. He just needed to spot the object that had pierced the tire, remove it, clean the affected area, pump air into it, then finally re-install the tire.

Tracer on the other hand, was still wondering why she was thinking about Scout — she couldn't seem to get him out of her mind, especially after the unusual situation that just happened recently with herself and him.

Despite scolding herself for thinking of him _shirtless,_ she _continued_ to do so, now thinking about how warm and amazing it would feel if she could get a kiss from him.

 _It was so wrong, but it felt so good for her._

As Scout examined the tire, he spotted the intrusion that had pierced into the tire.

"How the hell did I drive over this?" He said.

The tire had a small pocket knife pierced inside of it, which caused him to furrow his brows at the low chances of that happening.

But regardless, it happened, which surprised him even more.

"What happened, Scout?" Tracer asked.

"I ran over a knife." He replied, pulling out a pair of pliers.

"How did that happen?"

"That's what I'm saying — I don't know." He used the pliers to pull the small knife out of the tire.

Tracer had nothing better to do, so she decided to ask him a question, "Hey, Scout?"

"What do you want?" He asked with an irritated tone.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked - concerned for him.

He narrowed his eyes, "Nah... _I'm not..._ Since when did you care?" He asked back, pulling out a tool to clean the hole that the knife had pierced into.

"Because I don't want you _freezing_ to death?" She said.

There it was again! _She was showing **concern** for him,_ despite how hateful she was acting towards him earlier...

 _"What the...?"_ Scout cringed his face. "... You do know what you just said, right?"

"Completely. Why?"

Scout sighed, shaking his head, "N-nothing... it's just..." He sighed again, _"You're being weird, just let me fix this tire."_

"You wot? I beg your pardon, Scout?" She asked with concern.

"Tracer, can I fix the tire? Without you talking to me?"

"Okay sure. But _first_ tell me, how was I being weird?"

Scout groaned, _"Crap,_ I'll tell you later," He crouched up and looked at her through the open driver's window, "just let me fix this and we'll talk, 'kay?"

His stare made her uncomfortable — not in a predatory manner, _it was something else that made her want to shrink whenever he locked eyes with her. It probably wasn't even uncomfortable, it was probably awkwardness..._

 _Or, maybe she just **couldn't** keep a proper stare with him._

"... fine." She said after 10 long seconds.

Scout rolled his eyes and continued to work.

He was almost done. With the hole cleaned out and the object of intrusion removed, all he needed to do was pump the air back into the tire - via a tire gauge. Scout got a tire gauge out of the back of the van, and proceeded to pump air into the once-flat tire. Once he had done that, he sought on re-installing the fixed tire back onto the hub of the van. He placed the bolts in place, tightened each one, and suspended the van back to its normal height once he removed the jack that had been keeping it up in place.

He asserted all of the tools he had used, back into the tool kit. He then proceeded to place the tire gauge, the jack, and the tool kit - all in the back of the van, signifying that he had finally fixed (hopefully) the flat wheel.

Tracer was anxiously waiting for Scout to return to his seat. She was thinking about what he had said.

 _"You're being weird..."_

What did she say? She had no clue on as to why he would decide to say such a thing... was it because he still had a heavy dislike for her, or was she really just being... _weird?_

Scout interrupted her thought process once again as he opened the drivers door.

"Done." He took his seat, starting the engine up, all while forgetting to strap his seatbelt.

"You forgot your seatbelt, love."

 _" **Stop** , calling me that."_ He placed his foot on the pedal, " _And I don't need it."_ Scout replied, glaring her way as he put his foot on the pedal.

Tracer sighed, "Oh come on! What's the matter with you? I'm just looking out for you, what's the big problem?" She asked.

Scout seemed to have done the job right, as the van was now in working condition as it was steadily accelerating forward.

Scout was now more relaxed in his seat now that he knew the tire was fixed.

He sighed, one hand on the steering wheel as he laid back, "... You really wanna know the big problem?" He asked, staring at her.

"Yes! Tell me _why_ you're acting so barmy, when all I'm trying to do is show concern for you!"

"See?!" Scout exclaimed, "That's the problem with you!"

 _Another argument._

"It's like- it's like you have a frickin' switch on ya."

 _"Oi! Are you saying I'm bipolar?!"_ Tracer furiously replied.

"Let me finish." Scout requested, keeping his eye on the road, while giving the usual stare at The Agent.

 _"Okay, go."_ Tracer replied.

"'Kay, like I was sayin'- you- you have a switch on ya! When you decide to be a chill and casual gal, the switch is off! _But when you decide that you wanna be an annoying, little friggin' brat, ESPECIALLY to me! YOU TURN THE SWITCH ON!"_ He argued.

"Like, make up ya damn mind, Tracer! Are you gonna be a piece of shit towards me, or are you gonna be cool with me? Cause this crap's been happening _ever since_ I got here, and I seriously _can't tell if you tryna be friendly with me, or if you're really just fuckin' with me."_

 _"Shit. He's right."_ Tracer herself knew that what was coming out his mouth, was true.

She challenged his ego with her own ever since they had seen each other 3 months back, and ever since then, she found the need to always remind him that she was better than him at _everything_ that he did. Of course, he would always deny it, and at the least, try to _ignore_ her, which was the right thing to do — But it would never work. It only took one little comeback of his to spark a bigger fuse in her to prove her pride towards him.

 _That's when things turned sour between the two best runners of the Mercenaries and Overwatch._

But what made this different from the clichè 'I hate you, and you hate me' situation, was that the hatred towards the other one... was somewhat _fake._

On some days, Tracer would talk and even perform some activities with Scout, with banter being the only trash talk exchanged with each other during those days. It all left him confused...

But on most days, Tracer was a complete ass towards Scout — which caused him to rethink of her completely after seeing a different side of her the other day...

Hell, she was being a total pain in his ass just a while ago!

But here she was, being tolerable yet again. Scout decided that he had enough of it. He hated anything that was fake.

Scout sighed, "Look... if you hate me - just say you hate me, so I know where we stand."

Despite knowing the evidence for herself, she still had an _ounce_ of pride in her — refusing to back down.

"You've been acting like an arse towards me, Scout!" She replied. She wanted the last laugh... _her pride at least._

Scout's lips turned into a smile, soon growing into a chuckle — which was aimed at what Tracer had just said. "... _What makes ya think that I do that just cause I wanna?"_

"Well... umm..."

 _Shit._

"Don't even answer. Do you think I'm really the type of guy to pick fights with anyone here, any of your boys, or any of your girls?"

"You have a loud mouth, though, so-"

"I only talk crap to them cause they wronged me up first. That's the only way you'll get me hating on a chump..."

He paused for a bit, and then continued.

"... Tracer, I don't start to hate anyone for no frickin' reason, that's what lames do, _and I ain't a lame._ But when someone starts givin' me crap without a reason, that's where I cross the line, get it?"

"You're telling me that it's my fault that you're acting like this towards me?"

 _A long pause._

"Yeah... it is your fault, and I know you know it." Scout replied.

After that sentence, none of them said another word, which resulted in a silent ride. All that could be heard was the sound of tires rolling against the road.

Tracer knew she should have apologized, but _damn_ , her pride was _killing_ her — Denying her from apologizing to him. She never accepted her mistakes if it would bring her embarrassment, and if she had to, then she'd try to at least make it seem like the problem had _something_ to do with them as well.

But Scout really had no problem — She just wanted to prove her point to the level where it got rude and annoying for a person to handle. It was especially considered rude when said person wasn't causing any trouble to her in the first place...

So they sat in silence during the ride, with Tracer feeling guilty in her seat, and a blank-faced Scout staring onto the road...

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

They were almost at base.

It was located in a fairly isolated place for numerous reasons, it reminded Scout of the old place of operations, the base where a mutated piece of bread almost destroyed it single handedly — Only difference being, was that this base had a more urbanized setting.

Scout parked the van and turned off the engines, the headlights dying down as he shook the keys in his hand. "Alright, we're here."

But before he could get out of the van, Tracer spoke up...

 _"I'm sorry."_ She muttered embarrassingly, struggling to say the 2 simple words.

Scout retracted his hand away from the handle of the door, and relaxed into his seat.

"... I was wonderin' when you were gonna say that." He replied, silence taking over once again.

There.

She apologized. She swallowed her pride and apologized to him for being such a pain to him...

Things should've been better between them... right?

 _Wrong._

It was going to take more than that for them to become _'okay'_ with each other. It was going to take even more from her if she wanted to be friends with him...

 _But she wasn't aiming to be any of that with Scout... she was aiming for something more, something **more than friends.**_

"I'm so sorry, Scout... I..."

She noticed him staring at her, she met his gaze for a second before staring off someplace else. She didn't know what to say.

"Uhm..." She looked at him again.

 _And there was his smile._

She started to smile herself, breaking eye contact with him, _"Ugh... Scout, why is your smile so bloody gorgeous?"_ She said with a flushed face.

 _She totally didn't mean to describe his smile as 'gorgeous', even though it was, but still..._

Scout's smile grew bigger, "I don't know!" He scoffed out, chuckling at her, "Why are _you_ so nervous?" He asked, looking at her with another gorgeous smile.

Tracer gulped as red shot up her cheeks.

 _"I don't know..."_

"Is it really cause of my smile?" He asked.

"Yes- _I- I mean-"_

Too late.

Scout bursted out with laughter, "Aw' jeez! I didn't know that, my bad, Tracer."

Tracer rolled her eyes as she continued to blush, an embarrassing smile on her face as she crossed her arms and sighed.

"Makes me wonder, how long you been wantin' to say that to me?" He asked out of the blue.

Oh god, did he know that she was staring this whole time?

 _"What made you think of such a question, Scout?! Don't you know that I'm as ripe as a bloody tomato_ She thought to herself, absolutely hating the fact that Scout was teasing her by asking these questions.

"I just noticed it recently, actually... how, uhh... how nice your smile really is." She lied. She's been paying attention to his smile for a _long_ time...

"Sooo... yeah. I'm sorry for being an arse, Scout. I guess I was just... _hyper_ at those moments. Shouldn't have ever done that rubbish in the first place." She admitted.

"It's okay, that means we're cool with each other, right?"

 _"I **wish** we were more than that."_ She thought.

But of course, she didn't have the confidence to say such a thing.

And what would he say back?

 _"Yeah... me too?"_

 _Obviously not._ _He had respect for himself._

"Yeah, sort of like friends or something of that nature..." She muttered, trying not to show any disappointment in what she had just said.

Scout sighed, feeling content, "Good to hear." He put his hand on the handle of the van, "Let's get this mission done with so we can get some sleep."

After everything that happened today — Tracer would be surprised if she could sleep. She just felt like so much had happened between Scout and herself for her to be sleeping and _not_ be thinking about it...

He opened the driver's door and stepped out, walking towards the discreet entrance of the Overwatch base with the incriminating evidence in his hands.

"Hey, Tracer! I need you to work your magic!" Scout said, pointing at the intercom that was located next to an old barrel.

"Magic?" Tracer giggled. She walked up to the intercom and tapped on a button.

 _"Cheers, love."_ She said with a cheery tone into the device.

The button turned green, and suddenly, the wall in front of them started to move sideways — Revealing one of the many entrances into the Overwatch base.

"That's so friggin' sick, and it'll never stop being like that." Scout said, observing the hidden entrance in action.

"We should probably get inside before anyone notices." Tracer said.

They both walked into the base, and watched as the entrance shifted back into its original place.

"Man... that's too damn sweet." Scout said with awe.

"Every cool little thing seems to catch your attention, Scout." Tracer noticed.

"Yeah... it's weird cause my Ma said that to me too." He replied. "Hm, I think I remember her tellin' me that I was like, one of those _real special_ folks. Mannn, ain't that cool?!"

Tracer giggled, _"Oh my!_ Scout, do you know _what_ _that_ means?!" She asked with a huge smile.

"Yeah of course, it just means that I'm like.. y'know, _real special,_ just like it's called." He responded innocently.

Tracer laughed out... _hard._

 _"Oh bloody hell, Scout!"_ She laughed out.

 _She wanted to stop laughing, but her laughs were getting stronger by the bunches._

 _It was useless to resist — She was losing it!_

Scout couldn't help but smile back, "What? Was it something I said?"

It was things like this that made Tracer want to become **closer** with Scout. God, he was so adorable!

" _I.. I think so, love!"_ She breathed out and put a hand on a nearby wall, _"Oh blimey! Sco_ _ut you're adorable!"_ She cried out, clutching at her ribs as she giggled.

Scout was starting to get concerned for her. "Hey, Tracer. You okay?" He asked, walking closer towards her.

Tracer laughed out once again, _tears of joy_ coming out of her eyes.

 _"Scout! Bloody hell- Hold me! I'm gonna... I'm gonna..."_

Her giggles turned into a contagious fit of laughter, proving to be uncontrollable as she soon found herself in Scout's arms — Laughing unconsciously.

Scout was now _seriously_ concerned, "Tracer, are you okay?" He asked her nervously as he held her in his arms.

Tracer didn't seem to hear him as she continued to laugh hysterically.

"Oh no, oh no, _what did I do?!"_ He whispered to himself.

Tracer heard him, despite her cries of laughter. She opened her eyes, _"S-Scout! You didn't do-"_ She giggled, _"You didn't do anything wrong! You just made me laugh so-"_ She giggled again, _"You just made me laugh so bloody hard!"_ She laughed out again.

Scout was relieved to hear that. He sighed and smiled back at her, "Oh. Well that's nice to hear." He said with a warm smile. "I thought you were havin' a seizure or something, got me all worried about you for a good second..." He said with a small chuckle.

Tracer finally managed to gain control over herself as her laughter died down... but her heart beat was _accelerating_ as she realized _who's_ arms she was currently in.

 _"Oh... how did I even end up in your arms?"_ She asked with a nervous smile.

"Heh... you were gonna fall down, so I had to prevent that from happenin'... so I put my arms around ya..." He replied nervously.

He was still holding her... he _shouldn't_ have been holding her, she could handle herself.

 _Why was he still holding her?_

Tracer gulped, catching sight of his eyes with his lips _so close_ to her's was daring her to make a bold move...

Their faces were so close with each other's, like the _tiniest_ amount of air could cause them to touch lips with each other...

Scout finally caught his senses and loosened his grip around her waist.

 _"Shit, what am I doing?"_ He thought to himself.

He pulled his face away from hers, "Tracer... I- I'm sorry-"

 _She wouldn't allow him to back out._

 _She wanted this._

She put her hands on his cheeks, _"Shhh..."_ She whispered, pulling his face closer to her's.

 _"I wanna be more than friends..."_ She muttered out.

Tracer then met Scout's lips with a warm passion — **_Passionate_** lip-to-lip contact with him, _something that he wasn't expecting from her at all._

 _She was passionate with the kiss... like she had harboured these feelings for Scout ever since she had first laid eyes on him... like her hatred for him in the past was **fake,** and was used to cover up her real feelings that she held towards him._

Tracer groaned softly as she kissed him, almost moaning because of how good his lips felt against her's.

His lips felt just like she had imagined it earlier in the van — _Warm, soft and sweet._

Sweet embrace as she explored his face with her hands, and mesmerizing pleasure as she continued to kiss him.

Scout was wide-eyed. He was close to experiencing an overdose on the many feelings that were coursing throughout his body — _Shock, surprise, confusion, **excitement** and andrenaline..._ It was coursing throughout his body. He felt as if his heart could just hop out of his body because of how hard it was hammering against his chest.

 _But despite this, he still had a sense of right in this mind-numbing situation._

This _wasn't_ supposed to be happening. Both Tracer and Scout knew it, and they knew this wasn't proper...

Tracer didn't care.

Scout softened his grip around her waist, and she replied to this action by kissing against him _harder..._ tugging on his lip as her hands knocked the hat off his head, quickly weaving through his hair, pulling him in closer, _grasping_ his strands, groaning against his lips with pure bliss...

 _This wasn't right._

 _He had to stop this._

Scout slowly backed away from her lips and unwrapped his hands from her waist, resulting in Tracer to stare back confusingly at him.

 _"What... what happened?"_ She asked nervously, her eyes pleading.

He stared at her silently.

 _"... I'm sorry, but, I... that was too quick for me."_ He muttered, frowning slightly. _"I can't do this, Tracer... sorry."_

Tracer felt like her heart had just been shattered.

 _But... what else was she expecting? Was she really expecting him to feel the same way about her? After everything they've been through, after all the things she had done to him — Was she really expecting him to give back?_

This was what she should've thought about before kissing him... but she wasn't thinking straight...

Tracer frowned and held her head down in embarrassment...

 _ **Anger**... **regret**... strong emotions that clouded the regular view of a person — Stemming from her brain, affecting her mentality and affection towards Scout..._

 _"I'm sorry..."_ Tracer squeaked out, her voice threatening to crack.

"It's uh... it's okay, Tracer." He forced a smile at her, trying to ligthen up the mood after the awkward situation, "Hey, so uhh... we still got a briefcase to hand in." He held up the evidence, "Come. Walk with me, his quarters should be nearby." He offered, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Tracer sniffled as she wiped over her eyes, trying to make sure he couldn't see any of her tears.

Oh god, Scout felt horrible that he had _most likely_ broke her heart... _but what else could he do?_

He couldn't allow her to continue, it would make him feel uncomfortable!

He couldn't continue it himself, _he had no reason to do so._

So he had no choice but to decline her as politely as he could, with every intention of keeping her emotions as intact as they _could_ be, _after_ rejecting her.

He just hoped that this situation wouldn't make her hate him again, it wasn't his intentions at all to break her heart...

"... Tracer?" Scout said, his concern rising for her as she stared blankly at the ground. He dropped the briefcase in his hands and gently laid his hands onto her shoulders.

"C'mon, Tracer - talk to me, please." He begged, ".. if you don't want me to talk to you, just _say something,_ and I'll be outta your hair."

 _He shouldn't have said that._

 _"Crap, crap, crap! Why did I say that?!"_

Scout thought to himself.

He was going to correct himself, but Tracer beat him to it.

 _"So you're just gonna leave me?!"_ Tracer yelled out sadly, surprising Scout. _"You're just gonna leave me as a bloody wreck?!"_

 _"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"_ Scout wished he could rewind time.

"No... _no, god no, Tracer!_ I would never do that!" He said. "I-"

 _"You're full of rubbish."_ She ripped her arms away from his grip, _"Get the fuck away from me."_ She said dangerously, daring him to try anything. "I don't ever wanna see you!" She turned away from him.

 _"I... I hate you!"_ She snarled out, hate in her eyes...

 _Tears were swelling up in her eyes as well..._

Scout gave her a troubled stare as she blinked further down the hallways — _far, **far** away from him._

 _"Fuck..."_ Scout cursed out. He wanted to run after her, _but what good would it do?_

"I'll talk to her later, hopefully she ain't gonna kill me..." He mumbled to himself.

He picked up his hat that had been knocked off his head by Tracer, and he picked up the briefcase as well, proceeding to find his way to Winston's quarters... by himself.

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

As he made his way to where he had to deliver the evidence to, he was thinking to himself.

Obviously, about Tracer... and why she was so _mad_ at him for rejecting her.

"Why the hell is she so mad at me?" He sighed, turning a corner, "Like... how _the hell am I supposed to react to a girl that suddenly drops the bitchy attitude and instantly tries to kiss me all of a sudden?"_ He asked himself. "I say 'Hell no' to that," He said, finally finding the entrance to Winston's quarters, _"Cause that crap is just frickin' weird."_ He mumbled to himself.

He approached the sliding door and entered the ape's quarters.

"Yo, Winston!" Scout called out.

"Scout? Is that you?" An intellectual voice responded.

"Yeah, it's me - Hey, I got the crap that the guvvies' been tryna hide from ya." He said, holding up the briefcase full of corrupted evidence with his hand.

"Excellent work, Scout! Leave it on the desk nearby, I'll examine it later. As for the meantime..." Winston got out from his chair and turned towards Scout, "How are things between you and Lena? No more trouble, I hope..."

Scout widened his eyes at hearing her name, feeling the awkwardness rise in him.

"I almost forgot that _Lena's_ her real name... Always thought her name was Tracer for some reason."

"That's because everyone usually calls her by her codename, especially her fans around London. But Agents of closer relation to her, address her by her real name."

"Agents like who?" He asked.

"Mercy, Torbjörn, Reinhardt... and myself. Funny you should mention this!"

 _"Why?"_

"Lena thinks your real name is Scout... now isn't that a coincidence?"

Scout himself felt that way sometimes as well.

"Does she even know my real name though?" He asked, a small smile on his face.

"I'm afraid she doesn't. She has long assumed that your real name was Scout... anyways," Winston switched the subject, "How are things between you and her?" The Ape asked.

"Uhh... I dunno how to explain it." He said as he placed the briefcase on a nearby desk.

 _Mission complete._

"What do you mean?" Winston asked.

"Like... one moment, she'll be a real, _real_ pain in the ass for me. And then the next moment, she'll be all friendly and cuddly towards me... not cuddly, more like, giddy or- or cheery, yeah, something like that." He sighed, "... I don't get it." He responded.

"Ah yes, she is known for having mood swings sometimes... You're friendly towards her as well, I assume?" Winston asked.

"Yeah, always... uhh, that's only when she _ain't_ acting like an ass, and like I said earlier — _only in some moments._ So go figure."

Winston sighed, "Well, I do hope you guys can put aside your negative feelings for each other. Because-"

"Nah, nah, nah - you gotta tell that to her. Tell her to make up her mind, cause I really do wanna become cool with her, y'know? I don't hate her, she's pretty damn cool whenever she ain't gettin' on my nerves, and it'd be nice if she remained like that instead of cussing me out at every opportunity she has." Scout said. "Cause... cause I'm down to be friends with her, but I don't even think she knows that herself, y'know?"

"I see, I see... speaking about Lena, where is she?" Winston asked.

Scout didn't want to reveal the real reason for why she wasn't with him, as it would bring him more questions to answer.

And he just didn't know why _— But he felt the need to talk to Tracer ASAP, despite what she said earlier. He really didn't want to have Tracer hate him for the rest of his time here, so he had to make things_ _right between them... or at the very least, **attempt** to make things right..._

Again, he didn't know why he cared so much, but maybe Scout was just too nice for his own good, refusing to leave on bad terms with people...

"She ran off somewhere, dunno where, but I'll try to talk to her." Scout said.

"I think that's the best that you can do right now - constant communication with each other until your differences are put aside." Winston replied, "With that being said, you can go now."

The Intellectual Ape returned to whatever he was doing prior before Scout entered his quarters — which consisted of bananas, and _a lot ,_ of peanut butter.

"Okay, I'll see ya around." Scout walked out of the quarters and went on his way to finding Tracer.

 **l l l l l l l l l l**

She wasn't hard to find. The first place he expected her to go off to, was her own room, and as luck would have it, that's _exactly_ where she went!

Great!

He found her room, and he knows where she is, now he's just gonna have to figure out how to get her to even talk back to him.

 _A proper conversation with Tracer, was Scout's goal for now._

Scout took a deep breath before knocking on her door.

 _Knock,_

 _Knock,_

 _Knock._

He waited for a response.

A silent 20 seconds passed. No response.

Scout knocked again, hoping for a response.

"Tracer... you there?" He asked as he knocked.

No response.

Scout sighed, "Okay, look... I know that I'm probably the last guy you wanna see right now, but I just wanna talk... if it's okay with you."

Immediately after he said that, the door swung open in a quick manner, the woman behind the door _glaring_ at her visitor.

 _"What do you want."_ Tracer asked, irritation in her tone.

He looked at her, and he could see dried tear stains on her face. Her lips were slightly whimpering despite how hard she was trying to not show it.

 _He felt like shit seeing her in such a state._

He said the first thing that came to mind, "I just came here to say I'm sorry, and-"

Tracer slammed the door on him, but before it could fully close, Scout placed his foot in between the sliver of space between the door and the doorframe, thus denying her from closing it.

Scout winced in slight pain as he denied her from closing the door on him.

 _"Move your foot, Scout! Or I will chop it off with this bloody door if I have to!"_ Tracer said, putting more force on the door, resulting in more pain for Scout.

"Ouch, ouch! Tracer, please! I just need- Agh!" He winced in pain once again as she continued to hold the door down on him.

"GET OUT!" Tracer yelled.

"C'mon, please, just let me talk with you, _a minute is all I need- Agh!"_

Scout was about to retract his foot away from the sliver of space, but before he could...

Tracer sighed heavily, _"You have one minute."_ She said.

She let the door off of his foot.

 _"You better make this worth my time. Don't bother talking to me **ever again** if you're just going to say something useless."_ She threatened, leaving the door open for his explanation.

"Okay, okay, okay..." Scout inhaled and exhaled as he prepared for a quick minute speech.

 _"Let's get this straight."_ He started, "So... imagine if I was the worst chump you had bullyin' on ya for like, I dunno- _five months,_ let's say. Okay? Following so far?" Scout asked.

 _"You have 50 seconds."_ Tracer said with an unimpressed stare.

He rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, "Right. Okay, uhh... yeah so, I been bullyin' you for five months, and then right outta nowhere, _I decide to be like, 'Hmm, you know what? I'm gonna act friendly towards this girl and maybe even try to sneak a kiss from her!'..._ so there's that! And now, after five months of bullying you, and- and callin' you names, I act all friendly, and helpful towards ya when you was expecting nothing but some _crap_ from me... but no! I'm actually _being friendly_ to you, and then out of nowhere — _I decide to try and get a kiss from you."_ He stated.

 _"Lemme repeat it, **out of nowhere** , I decide I want to kiss you..."_ He emphasized, "... How do you react to that?" Scout asked.

 _"You have twenty seconds."_ Tracer said.

"B-but I'm askin' you's a question!" Scout said.

 _"Sixteen seconds."_ Tracer replied, seemingly ignoring whatever he was saying.

 _"Can't give up now, can't have her hating me."_ He thought to himself.

"C'mon Tracer, just answer it, please. I'm begging you. God- _I'll_ _get on my frickin' knees if I have to, just answer my question."_ He begged, ready to go on both knees.

Tracer sighed as she shifted in her stance a bit.

 _"... I wouldn't wanna kiss him."_ She answered as she stared at the floor, arms crossed stubbornly.

 _"You have five seconds..."_ She muttered shortly after.

This was what he wanted her to think about, how improper it would be if she was in the same situation as him.

He sighed with slight relief, "That's okay... I just needed you to think about that, and hopefully, we can talk about it later, and maybe-"

Tracer interrupted him, _"Time's up... you can go now."_ She said, failing to meet his eyes.

She placed her hand on the door, slowly closing it on him.

"Wait, wait, wait, before you close the door, just _please,_ _please_ don't stay hating me, Tracer. I don't want-"

The door closed on him, abruptly ending his sentence.

Scout sighed. He took off his hat and ruffled a hand through his hair stressfully.

 _He just didn't get it!_

Why was she so mad about it?! It was her fault that she got rejected!

Why would he have to apologize to her when he didn't do anything wrong?!

What was she thinking about when she decided to kiss him?!

What made her want to kiss him?!

 _ **What was her problem?**_

 _"Ugh... why do I care so much?"_

 _Why did he care so much?_

He walked away from her door slowly, thinking on what he could possibly do tomorrow to make it up to her... the things he could do to get on better terms with Tracer... _excluding romantic gestures that would cause affection to bloom_ — _anything_ but that.

He sighed to himself again, placing his hat back on his head, feeling disappointed in himself...

But before he could walk down the hallways...

 _"Scout..."_ A familiar voice called out behind him.

Scout turned around to see her peaking her head out for him. She stared at her, waiting for her to say something.

She gestured at him to come inside.

Scout walked towards her, and came inside her room.

She pointed at a spacious couch, "Just go on the couch, I'll get some tea in a bit for the both of us." She said, closing her door.

"Thanks..." Scout said.

She didn't reply back, instead going towards her small-sized kitchen to whip up a batch of tea.

He walked towards her couch and took a seat.

It was _really_ comfy. It reminded him of home.

Two minutes passed, and Tracer came back with two cups of tea in either hand. She handed him his cup, and took a small sip of her own. She sat down beside him on the spacious couch, a cup of tea in her hand, and a slight frown on her face.

Scout didn't know what to say... he didn't know what to talk about. The silence between them was making him feel uncomfortable. He took a small sip of his tea, waiting for Tracer to hopefully say something.

"... I'm so stupid..." She suddenly said, "All I wanted, from the first moment I saw you, was your attention. I just wanted to have casual conversations with you, get to know you... but me and my bloody ego ruined all of that." She sniffled.

 _"I could give a shite if you were a murderer for hire, or if you had a loud mouth yourself... I still wanted you, and that's what kills me inside. Knowing that I could've had you if I wasn't acting like such an arsehole towards you..."_

She was trying so hard to not break down in tears...

She was failing... _she started to sob._

Scout put his cup of tea on a small table and instinctively placed his arms around Tracer, trying to comfort her, not wanting to see her cry.

But then again, it failed almost immediately, as she started to bawl when she felt his arms around her.

 _"I wanted you, Scout. But I ruined it!"_ She sobbed out, accidentally dropping her cup of tea all over the floor because of how hard she was shaking.

"Tracer, you gotta stop crying, it ain't gonna do any good for you."

Tracer hugged onto Scout, _"I shouldn't have acted like such a fool in the beginning... I regret it."_ She whimpered, burying her face in his chest.

Damn it. He could feel how sad she truly was, his chest was beginning to dampen up...

"You can't stay on that, Tracer..." He sighed, feeling discontent at how broken she was in his arms, _"Just get some sleep."_ He said, stroking her wild hair gently.

Scout's simple gestures of care towards her was proving to be instrumental in preventing her from breaking down on him...

She was slowly getting calmer as he kept stroking her hair, her sobs were light, and her body was relaxing more as his arms were kept around her.

 _"I can't sleep alone..."_ She said after some silence, almost sounding like she was indirectly pleading for him to stay with her.

 _He couldn't leave her like this... never. He'd stay with her for the whole night if it meant that she would get some sleep._

"Don't worry, Tracer. I ain't going anywhere if you ain't gettin' a good nights sleep... can you promise me that?"

 _"... Promise..."_ Tracer whispered.

"Great... get some sleep now... _please."_ Scout said, stroking her face gently.

 _"I'm sorry, Scout... for everything..."_ Tracer muttered before sleeping.

It was difficult for him to smile. He wiped her tears away and allowed her to rest her head soundly on his lap.

She was crunched up into a ball as she slept on Scout's lap, the soothing contact and the touches of his arms and his hands were warming her skin to the core.

But she still felt **_cold_** inside... because this was all that she was _ever_ going to be with Scout...

 _Just friends._

As much as he didn't want to admit, Scout was saddened as well... that he'd only just be _friends_ with her. He felt like too much had happened between himself and her for him to properly call her _'The one'._

He sort of wished that things could've gone differently between them, _if only_ change came quicker than it had done so today, things would be different...

It was a change from their old 'relationship'... _a small change,_ but a change nonetheless...

 ** _l l l l l End l l l l l_**

 **Just decided to take a break from the updates with the other stories. My mind been wandering somewhere else, and I follow it, then do _something_ about it. **

**This is the result of that.**

 **So now that I'm done with this story (which took almost 2 weeks to complete), you guys can expect an update for my other story in the near future :)**

 **Might be a long wait, might be a short wait, idk — depends on how I'm feeling.**

 **Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this quick one-shot! :)**


End file.
